English Idiom: (Able to/can) fog a mirror (Meaning and Examples)

(Able to/can) fog a mirror.

Idiom Meaning: Inf. alive, even if just barely. (Usually jocular. Refers to the use of a small mirror placed under the nose to tell if a person is breathing or not. Able to is often can.)

Idiom Example:

Look, I don’t need an athlete to do this job! Anybody able to fog a mirror will do fine!

Another example from the news:

Getting stuck with poor performers

                       

I think that it’s safe to say that the most often neglected rule of management is “hire slow and fire fast.”

Albeit grammatically incorrect, the point is clear and it’s a lesson difficult to refute.

But we break this rule all the time. Frankly, we are much more likely to hire quickly and fire slowly.

           

In the ’90s, if a human could fog a mirror he or she was qualified to work in a drycleaning plant. With jobs as plentiful as they were back then, it’s a miracle that we got anybody to work for us.

It’s much easier these days to get someone to apply for a position, and there are many of us who perform our due diligence during the application and hiring processes. I have seen personality tests, trial periods and conditional hirings. Certain things like “Let’s see you press shirts for an hour. If your quality is good, you will get the job.”

There have been instances where it’s difficult to make a decision, so we do multiple interviews with several people; the supervisor, the general manager... Read the full article at: http://www.natclo.com/1311/desrosiers.htm